Baggage compartments in aircraft passenger cabins are typically arranged overhead, i.e. above the heads of the seated passengers. In order to achieve an optimal headroom for the passengers below the baggage compartments on the one hand, and to achieve a convenient accessibility for loading and unloading the baggage compartments on the other hand, such a baggage compartment typically includes a baggage bin that is lowerable out of a housing. Upon lowering the baggage bin from the housing, the open front side of the bin is uncovered or exposed to allow baggage to be loaded into or unloaded from the bin. In order to achieve the best possible access to the baggage bin for loading and unloading, preferably the baggage bin carries out a tilting or pivoting motion in connection with the raising or lowering motion. In this context, the baggage bin will be tilted slightly forward and downward in the access direction when it is in the lower loading position, whereby the front loading edge is somewhat lower than the rear edge of the baggage bin. A support and guide system carries the baggage bin relative to the housing and guides the lowering and raising of the bin.
Such baggage compartments are conventionally known with a wide range of different embodiments of the support and guide systems for lowering and raising the baggage bin. For example, four link support systems are known for supporting and guiding the motion of the baggage bin, from European Patent 0,049,716, or German Patent Laying-Open Publication 195 46 302. German Patent Laying-Open Publication 198 00 588 discloses a lever system including a respective lever arranged at each side of the baggage bin shell, whereby each one of these levers is connected with the respective other lever via a torsion shaft, and a linear guide for guiding the lowering motion for lowering the baggage bin shell out of the housing of the baggage compartment into a loading position. European Patent 0,594,997 discloses a guide system that is arranged on both sides on the side walls of the baggage bin shell, and which achieves a guidance of the lowering and raising motion of the baggage bin shell by means of gear segments or segmental toothed racks.
In all cases, the known support and guide systems are arranged between the housing of the baggage compartment and the side wall of the baggage bin shell. For this reason, in all of the known solutions, there is a certain minimum lateral space requirement for the support and guide system, which means that the available space for the loading volume of the baggage bin, to receive carry-on baggage or the like, is correspondingly reduced.